John,
I agree with most of what you say.
I own a lot of software for both my PC and Amiga. Some of this software
was very expensive. I have no problem with that as long as the software
fit the purpose I bought it for. On the other hand, there is a lot of crap
out there that's not worth the disk(s) they sell it on! There has to be a
way to evaluate software, perhaps in the store you buy it from. What
suggestions do you have to solve this problem?